Sunday, May 31, 2020

Disrupt

Disrupt That word has been on my mind a lot this year. I think Im disrupting an industry, right now. I wont have many fans from within that industry, but everyone tells me the time is ripe to disrupt it. someone is going to do it, why not me? I want to be in charge of the disruption.  Or at least, one of the early disrupters. This year, tens of thousands of people have had their careers disrupted. Instead of being in charge of the disruption, they have been disrupted.  Many feel like the carpet was pulled out from under them.  Some got up fine, others lay on the ground wounded. Would you rather be a disrupter, and have some control over the direction (or at least feel like you have some control), or a disruptee, and lay down wounded, wondering what the hecks going on? The year is over.  The decade is over. Next year, next decade, is YOURS. Disrupt.  Or be disrupted. Disrupt That word has been on my mind a lot this year. I think Im disrupting an industry, right now. I wont have many fans from within that industry, but everyone tells me the time is ripe to disrupt it. someone is going to do it, why not me? I want to be in charge of the disruption.  Or at least, one of the early disrupters. This year, tens of thousands of people have had their careers disrupted. Instead of being in charge of the disruption, they have been disrupted.  Many feel like the carpet was pulled out from under them.  Some got up fine, others lay on the ground wounded. Would you rather be a disrupter, and have some control over the direction (or at least feel like you have some control), or a disruptee, and lay down wounded, wondering what the hecks going on? The year is over.  The decade is over. Next year, next decade, is YOURS. Disrupt.  Or be disrupted.

Thursday, May 28, 2020

Resume Writing Services For IT Professionals

Resume Writing Services For IT ProfessionalsResume writing services for IT professionals are businesses that have experience and expertise in creating effective and enticing resumes. If you want to improve your chances of being hired, then it is important that you learn more about the services that these professional service providers offer.Resume writing services are businesses that can create resumes that match your skills and capabilities. They do this by basing it on the experience and expertise that they have. In order to find the right kind of resume writing service for you, it is important that you identify which skills and attributes you are good at and how you can use them in your resume.Most of the professionals employ various kinds of resume templates. These include bulleted, bullet point, grammar check, and the ability to customize the resume according to your specifications. When you take advantage of these services, you will be able to enhance your chances of landing an interview. These services can also help you create a resume that is perfect for presenting yourself at a job interview.After completing the resume for you, the professionals can also help you understand how to market the resume to make it more appealing to employers. This means that the professional will help you customize the information you have included in the resume. It is important that you understand the way they will market your resume. Remember that resume writing services for IT professionals can only provide assistance when it comes to developing your resume.Aside from creating the resume for you, these professionals can also present it for you during an interview. There are some companies that only deal with a specific set of jobs and clients. You may be limited to certain skills and limitations as a result. If you want to be able to present your resume in a different manner, then you should consider using resume writing services for IT professionals.As an applicant, you r resume has a few things that the hiring managers will consider. The first is whether or not the skills you have in your resume will translate to a successful career. There are certain skills that are required to enter the top jobs. Other skill sets may not be required in order to land certain jobs.Before you go looking for online resume services for IT professionals, it is important that you think about the type of career you want to achieve. Take the time to figure out what skills you need to have in order to get that position you want. If you have a strong interest in internet marketing, then you will probably need to learn HTML coding and website design skills. On the other hand, if you have technical writing skills, then you may need to know basic web programming.Make sure that the resume you present for the professional you choose is one that you are comfortable with. In order to make your resume stand out among the many others, you will need to ensure that it contains the sk ills that are required for the position you are applying for. By combining all of these elements, you will be able to improve your chances of landing the job of your dreams.

Sunday, May 24, 2020

New Tool Reveals Job Trends for Your Search Terms - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

New Tool Reveals Job Trends for Your Search Terms - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Simply Hired is a vertical job search aggregator that takes your search terms and gives you results that are pooled from various job banks on the internet. Their philosophy is to be the central hub for job listings online and today they announced a new tool that measures job trends over time. From July 2006 to January 2008, you can view trends related to any keyword of interest, such as marketing or finance. You get to choose which graphs you want the data shown in, such as a line or bar graph. My favorite part is that you can compare trends from different keywords. As you will notice below, the main business functions are decreasing in job opportunities (economic recession), but social media jobs are abundant and growing, and IT jobs have increased 3% from last year (not pictured). This graph displays the percentage of jobs that contain your search terms. Since July 2006, the following has occurred: Marketing jobs decreased 25% Finance jobs decreased 33% Accounting jobs decreased 38% HR jobs decreased 48% Social Media jobs increased 42% With Employment Trends, you can compare the frequency of job titles, companies, skills and industries in the US employment market. This marketing, finance, accounting, hr, social media trend data is derived from millions of jobs indexed by Simply Hired.

Thursday, May 21, 2020

Probing for Pain Points in an Interview - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Probing for Pain Points in an Interview - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Probing for Pain Points? Probing for pain points should be one of your first steps in an interview. Every business has problems. Your first job is to ask probing questions to uncover those pain points. Initial Phone Screen Most of the time in the interview process, there will be an initial phone screen with either a recruiter or HR professional. Your first questions should include: Is this a newly created position? What are the responsibilities of the position? Are these responsibilities new to the department, organization or company? What new business requirements that are causing you to fill this position? What you are looking for is insight into whether this is a newly created position and whether these are new responsibilities. If it is new, then they are likely working on solving an existing problem. If it an existing position, why is the position currently vacant? You will want to be a detective. Ask probing questions looking for problems. You are looking for problems that you know how to solve! Post Phone Screen Now you need to do your research. Check on LinkedIn to see who currently or in the near past had the title for this job. Did this person leave the company or move to a different department? Connect with this person on LinkedIn and ask for 15 minutes on the phone to ask for AIR, advice, insights and recommendations. If they left the company, ask them why. You may find that you do not want to work there! If they moved to a new department, ask them whether it was a lateral move or a promotion. If it was a promotion make sure and congratulate them. If it was a lateral move, ask about the business reasons for the move. Carefully read anything and everything about the company looking for pain points. It may be that the company is growing fast or moving into new markets or sales have stalled. What are the potential problems? Interview Questions Bring with you a minimum of five pain point questions to the interview. They should be open ended questions to uncover problems that you have already thought about how you would solve them. Are you satisfied with current growth of the business? Are you meeting service level agreement targets with all of you important clients? What are the areas where you are having problems meeting deadlines? Notice that all of these are open ended questions. Your goal is to get the interviewer give you insight into the pain points that you know how to solve. Pain Points Uncovered Once the pain points have been uncovered you can explain how you have solved these problems in the past. The best way to do this is to tell stories how you previously solved the same or similar problems for your employer. Let me tell you about the time when I encountered .. This demonstrates that you have the skills to do the job. So plan on being a detective. By asking good probing questions looking for pain points shows that you have done your homework about their business. The more you uncover the better you can demonstrate that you are the best candidate for the job! Marc Miller â€" Career Pivot Check out my book Repurpose Your Career â€" A Practical Guide for Baby Boomers Do not forget to follow me on Twitter or FaceBook

Sunday, May 17, 2020

How to answer How would your friends describe you

How to answer How would your friends describe you Is it just me, or does this at first glance seem like an odd question to come up in the interview context? It certainly does come up, and not infrequently. Surely employers are interested in how you are in the workplace, not in what goes on when you are relaxing with people you like? This is true. No employer will want to learn that as of last Saturday night your friends will describe you as hilarious but ultimately embarrassing and go on to be told exactly why your friends would describe you that way. Nor do they want to know that in all honesty, your friends frequently describe you as rather grumpy (or maybe that’s just me). It’s also an odd question because the chances are very small that an employer would contact your friends to find out what whether you are saying is true (although bear in mind that some employers will check social media profiles, so look to your privacy settings if you do have things on there that you’d rather only your closest friends know about). So they can only rely on the very indirect and unreliable method of what you say about what your friends would say. So why on earth do recruiters ask it? After all, recruiters won’t waste time on asking interview questions which give them no useful information. In fact as with all interview questions, the trick is to think about why the employer is asking. What they are really investigating here is self-awareness If you can say something convincing about how your friends perceive you, you probably know something about what you offer in the workplace, and where your strengths lie. Most recruiters will really appreciate new starters who have a good level of self-awareness. For example, one person might know that they are excellent at noticing the detail within a new project, but less strong about seeing the broader picture. Or the opposite. Someone else might know that they have much more enthusiasm for getting things started than for checking that they have been satisfactorily completed. Now it may or not be that you have been with your friends in a context where they will be able to say anything about how you would respond with these kinds of work-place scenarios. But if you are able to say something convincing about how you think your friends would describe you, then the employer may feel some reassurance that you understand your own strengths and skills. And also perhaps that you will recognise that sometimes the ultimate outcome will be better because you recognise when you would be better asking others for advice or assistance. How would an employer respond to your answer that your friends would describe me   as an exceptionally hard worker, who never makes mistakes and who brings forth incredible results even from the most unpromising of situations.   Even in the event that you are someone who could say this truthfully it is highly unlikely to impress an employer. Other than demonstrating an astonishing amount of self-confidence it gives them no information about for example, how you approach tasks. Or where you might work most effectively by forming a team with colleagues with a different skill-set. You may be able to give a real-life example. If your friend says ‘Thanks for listening â€" you’ve no idea how much I appreciated it’ or ‘I think you’re amazing, organising something that complicated and getting it to work’, then (even though they may not think of it this way) that is your friends describing you.   If you can give a real-life example like this, providing some context (and steering that careful course between confidence and arrogance) then you are likely to be giving a strong answer to the question ‘How would your friends describe you?’ If you are fortunate, you will have friends whom you trust to give you an honest answer to this question when asked directly. I was once asked a variation of this question on an application form. I asked someone I know very well and whom I could rely on for honest suggestions (actually it was my Mum). And I got that particular job! Think too about what is appropriate for the job. If your friends would describe you as methodical and cautious, this would be a fantastic asset in many jobs but not at all useful in others. So this question really provides a strong opportunity to demonstrate that you know yourself and what you can offer to the recruiter. Ask, or imagine, your friends saying things about you which are positive and which provide an insight into you as the kind of person the recruiter would like to employ. But if the first thing which pops into your head is something which an employer really would really be better off not knowing about, then think about something more positive you could talk about instead, quickly!

Thursday, May 14, 2020

7 Tips to Be More Productive when Working from a Coworking Space CareerMetis.com

7 Tips to Be More Productive when Working from a Coworking Space Original Image Source â€" Depositphotos.comAn increasingly common business phenomenon, coworking spaces are a creative and ingenious concept that continues to evolve in an unpredictable way. Coworking spaces allow people to rent desks, often on a monthly basis. This arrangementallows freelancers or small business owners to work alongside others in settings that often include conference rooms or private offices.One 2015 study by the Global Coworking Unconference Conference While a coworking space may promote happiness and help people create professional networks, it may also make them less productive or even unhappy or unhealthy if they do not know how to make the spaces work for their benefit.If you are going to work from a coworking space, you need to realize the ways to reap the most from the situation. While they may help you feel less lonely and improve your skills, there are ways you may gain even more from such coworking spaces and attain better results.1) Be AccountableevalWor king in a coworking space is often not like working in a traditional office. For one, there may be more noise. Yes, noise distractions may exist.Unless you know why you are there and what you want to achieve, you might not be able to get the desired results in this work environment. It may be easy to let distractions in coworking spacesallow your mind to drift and keep you from achieving your daily or long-term goals. Spending time in coworking spaces, you may find all sorts of discussions and talks. Sophie may be creating a vlog and telling her friends and fans about the ingredients she uses in her favorite salad. Gregory and his colleague may be reminiscing about their good old days in college. Other people in the space may be offering advice and discussing other matters.These are some of the things you may find in coworking spaces. Unless you keep yourself accountable, you might not achieve your goals. That said, coworking spaces offer sites for collaboration and inspiration that may foster a strong work ethic and boost one’s creativity and productivity.Individuals who use coworking spaces often have flair and passion for the work they do. Their aim is to be more productive and ensure that they use their allocated time effectively and productively.evalTo help you remain more productive while working in coworking spaces, consider recording your assignments and tasks for the day and mark them off as you complete them.Marking completed tasks may provide morale, motivation, and a sense of accomplishment. It may help you feel satisfied that you have attained something. Try to complete the tasks, even if it means spending more time at your tasks, but do not try to spend too much time at work. You do not want to burn out or experience other negative results.2) Make the Tasks MeaningfulCoworking spaces are not only for freelancers. Businesspeople, IT professionals, and other people take advantage of the environment provided by the spaces. The GCUC projects that t he number of individuals and professionals using coworking spaces may increase to 5.1 million peopleby 2022.Demands for coworking spaces are increasing. Both individuals and large corporations looking for greater flexibility are embracing the arrangement. The increasing number of people who are self-employed is a major driver behind the demand for the spaces.evalAnother factor behind the popularity of coworking spaces is the expanding numbers of start-up businesses Do not waste your precious time or keep other individuals from accomplishing their tasks. If you do this at work, you become a nuisance to others in the coworking space who wish to be productive. Sometimes, you have to exercise restraint and not participate. At other times, it is beneficial to cultivate friendships and working relationships.eval5) Manage Your Time ProperlyIf you fail to plan, you are planning to fail. Coworking spaces are high-energy, social environments that may easily sweep you up in excitement. Before you know it, two hours of precious time has been wasted and your productivity is dwindling. Trivial tasks may easily distract you, and if you do not watch your time management skills, you may waste your day. Instead, create a plan that guides you toward the tasks you need to accomplish each day or each week. Plans may give you some structure on how to do things. You do not have to enforce the plan with military precision, because you need some flexibility. But having guidelines may produce wonders.At the end of the day, evaluate yourself and how much you have accomplished. Did you meet your targets? What pain points did you encounter while accomplishing or attempting to accomplish your tasks? What changes do you need to make in your schedule to remain productive?6) Beat ProcrastinationLike many working environments, a coworking space may contribute to procrastination. The social and interactive nature of coworking spaces makes it easy for individuals to procrastinate.evalProcrastina tion may occur when you do things you do not love or when you do not have the clear plan and schedule that you need to accomplish tasks. Just as students postpone studying subjects they hate, people procrastinate in coworking spaces. If you are a CEO who loves dealing with the little tasks first before taking on larger reports because you think that they will take too much time, procrastination may be taking a toll on your productivity.You need to change your modus operandi. You may consider:Breaking your tasks in small, easily achievable milestones.Setting deadlines to finish the tasks.Taking a break if stress starts to mount, since you do not want to overdo things or overwork the brain.Success for team members, freelancers, entrepreneurs, and workers may arrive if they end their persistent procrastination. This is a habit you have to address.7) Utilize TechnologyThere are many websites and apps designed to make life easier and allow you to save time in coworking spaces. You may us e an app that syncs your events or emails to your calendars in your computers and portable devices. Or, you may find it handy to use an app that generates to-do lists for the day, week, month, and year.Other technology may enhance your professional life. The technology may be a website that lets you store and retrieve your data and documents online in the cloud or a program that checks grammar. When you use these possibilities in your workspace to manage information and automate routine tasks, you may save time and enhance productivity.8) Protect Your HealthIn the beginning, working from coworking spaces may be exciting. You may want to spend a great deal of time in your new working environment because you find it fun. Since you have changed your previous work environment, you may be tempted to stretch beyond your limits. In such a creative and constructive environment, you may develop a workaholic mindset and begin to neglect your health.Protecting your health includes enjoying qua lity sleep. Sleep problems may harm productivity. The National Sleep Foundation recommends that adults of the ages between eighteen through sixty-four need about seven to nine hours of sleepevery night to experience optional body and mind functioning.Not having sufficient, quality sleep may lead to concentration problems, produce negative attitudes toward work, and make it more difficult to accomplish tasks that would have been finished more quickly if you felt more mentally refreshed. To combat fatigue and improve sleep quality, consider exercising. Going to the gym or jogging may increase your level of productivity by prompting the production of endorphins and other feel-good chemicals.Overworking yourself in coworking spaces or social places may make your body susceptible to fatigue and illnesses. Straining mind and body and depriving yourself of sleep may lead to serious health problems. There are different ways to deprive yourself of sleep. For example, while working with other people in coworking spaces, you may extend your time with them outside of work where you continue to mingle as you socialize and get to know each other better.If you are spending a great deal of time pursuing social activities after work, you may not have sufficient time to care for yourself. It may become difficult to find time to work out at the gym, read a book, or cook your favorite dish. You also may not have enough time to sleep.Your body may begin to wear out. You may start to experience more stress and see that you are not as productive as you were when you started at your coworking space. Because of these factors, you may begin to look for ways to cope with the stress you encounter in coworking spaces.Prolonged stress and a lack of sleep may weaken your immune system, so you may begin drinking alcohol to treat your cough and other conditions.Alcohol with honey or juice is a drink you may want to take when you have a cough or stuffy nose. But although honey has antimicrobia l properties and helps soothe sore throats and cough, drinking alcohol regularly may produce problems. You may become dependent on the alcohol and lemon mixture to fight the persistent cough and cold symptoms you are experiencing from health issues and stress.Not utilizing your time properly when working from coworking spaces and overindulging in social events or other occasions may impair your health. The alcohol you consume for your cough may continue to weaken your immune system even further. It adds more toxins and other problems that you need to remove.Otherwise, when you know what you need to do to make yourself productive in coworking spaces, the results may be impressive. Many people are abandoning traditional office workspaces to work from coworking spaces, and they are finding them not only inspiring, but also interactive, knowledge-enhancing, and adaptive to different professions and professionals.

Sunday, May 10, 2020

Resume Writer Confidential We Know When You Are Lying

Resume Writer Confidential We Know When You Are Lying Resume Writer Confidential: We Know When You Are Lying Not unlike a confessional, resume writers oftentimes hear stories that would make most people’s hair stand on end. How they messed up on the job big-time. Or a bad decision that resulted in a termination. Or had an awful boss who did unspeakable things to them. Or didn’t know how to do the job to which they were reassigned. There are a million different stories out there on the street, and resume writers hear a lot of them, day in and day out. Over time, we grow thicker skin after the shock of what goes on in the workplace wears off, but we always hear something new. Truth, as the saying goes, is stranger than fiction. But one thing that comes out of these client consultations is that most people are sincerely trying to do the best job they can at work… many of them love what they do. I completely believe this. Oftentimes, the cause of lot of their workplace angst and issues lies with either bad co-workers or bad communicators… or bad bosses. However, despite blame always seemingly being external, there are also a lot of cases where the client is the problem themselves, and don’t see it. Or, they are just plain out-and-out lying. Answers become obscure and indistinct, or conversations are redirected to avoid answering anything. Every career services provider worth their salt asks the right questions that dig deep into a client’s background, and when answers get short, gruff, and end in a nervous laugh… well, we know what’s really going on here. Lying to a professional resume writer isn’t doing anything to further your career. You may think you pulled a fast one on us, but remember… you are paying us to write, not be the resume police. We can ask verification questions to make sure we understood you correctly, but it’s not up to us to substantiate or pass judgment on your claims. An employer? Totally different story. That’s their job during the recruitment/application process… they are paid to find out the big, stinky lies that some people cram into their resume. By hiring a resume writer to polish up your turd (ahem) of a lie doesn’t give you a “pass” when it comes to employer scrutiny. You aren’t pulling the fast one with us…   Resume writers know when you are lying and we aren’t even the ones doing the investigating. The best policy? Honesty. You will never have to look over your shoulder, nor will you need to justify yourself as you backtrack an outrageous claim. Good guys do finish first… especially when it comes down to honesty and integrity in representing your background in your resume. Lying only hurts one person: YOU.

Friday, May 8, 2020

Need help finding a non-sucky bridge job Read this. - When I Grow Up

Need help finding a non-sucky bridge job Read this. - When I Grow Up I got an email recently that asked me about bridge jobs what I like to call the jobs we take that help get us from right now to our dream career. Cause theyre a bridge from one place to the next. Right? Obvs. Well, this woman asked for resources on getting a good bridge job. And I was stumped! Dear Reader, I havent been stumped on something for a very long time. Ive pretty much heard it all in the 7 years Ive been The When I Grow Up Coach. Challenges, fears, goals, roadblocks, types of resistance nothing is new to me anymore. (Hear that, career fears? Youre not so special! The person who contains you IS, but YOU, sir, are not. Good day, sir. I said good day!) I kept that email in my Inbox for almost a week, thinking. And nothing came to mind. Sure, I had my Ditch Your Day Job class on CreativeLive that helps you brainstorm good bridge jobs for your skill set and ways to save/make more money, but not specifically how to get that job. Sure, The Renaissance Soul talks all about having a j-o-b (which is basically the authors term for a bridge job) and what one should entail that would appeal to your multi-passionate nature, but it doesnt talk about the how either. So lets cover two birds with one stone and start with the WHAT. A bridge job is a kick-ass one if it  gives you the time and energy to work on your career change  without having to worry about covering your bills. Before we go any further, I urge you to asses your current situation. Sure, your job might be boring and beneath you. Sure, you might not feel valued. Sure, youd never want to work there long-term and you feel youre wearing a mask when youre there. I have been there. I have done that. I mean, can you picture me working for a FINANCIAL CONSULTANCY company?! (I wanted to yell that part because, over two years after working there and only a few months shy of my quitting date, I was reprimanded for talking too loud in my cubicle. I asked my manager if shed prefer I work from home or get my own office, but neither one was acceptable. I was told to tone myself down, and a week or so later I was reprimanded for not appearing engaged and eager to help at departmental meetings. Well, I wasnt. I was being quiet. I responded that my communication skills were taken away from me when I was asked to tone myself down, and at that point I was told to go back to your old self. I cant make this shit up.) But if the job like mine at the finance company makes it so that you can have the time and energy to work on your dream career while giving you the money you need to pay your bills (and especially if you can sock some away to pay yourself severance when you quit), its probably worth sticking out. Now this? THIS is the HOW of finding a kick-ass bridge job: Go for something thats obvious from your resume, and dont try to climb that ladder too fast. This is not the time to make the move from office manager to copywriter when you  want to start a jewelry business. If you have office manager and receptionist experience, you can probably make the move to  admin or assistant to account manager, something in that realm. Spend an hour or so researching job boards or even better companies youd love working for that are local to you. Check out the Career section of their site and see what jobs they have that could be within your reach. Make a shortlist and then tweak your resume accordingly. This worked well for me when I used my experience as an Account Manager to get hired as an Executive Assistant. Dont tell the feds, but I tweaked my title at that job from Account Manager to Assistant to the Director of Client Development / Account Manager. All the bullet points were totally accurate in terms of what I was responsible for in that job and what I delivered on, but without calling it out like that in my title I might not have been gi ven a second look. The only exception to this? Its if you have real experience with what youre reaching for. If you want to make the move from office manager to copywriter and you have a portfolio or site to back it up, then dont be shy! Youll want to be clear that you did that work on your own time, but itll show your dedication and passion as well as some real-world work, and that is never a bad thing. Dont hide your extracurriculars. In all honesty, I think the companies with the best cultures are the ones who want workers who have passions, hobbies, and interests. They wanna know youre the right person for the job  and that theyll like working with you for 40+ hours a week because youre not a bore. They want to see that youre a self-starter, and that you can bring more to the table that job what your job entails. Dont be shy in pointing them to your social media sites, or even adding your site/blog as a title on your resume (i.e. founder of MyAmazeballsBlog.com) and listing your accomplishments (i.e. weekly postings for two years; over 100 subscribers; invited to speak at a panel on being amazeballs). So many of my clients realize that  where you work and with who is almost ad or some times a bit more! important than  what you do at work. Remember that if the company rejects your own personal interests and accomplishments, then theyre bringing the point home that its  not the right place for you to work. Nothing lost there. Utilize the help of recruiters when/if possible. I would not have gotten my Executive Assistant job at the fancy-schmancy financial consultancy company without a recruiter. I can remember meeting with almost a half-dozen of them, incorporating all their notes and suggestions on my resume and taking tests to mark my knowledge in stuff like Excel. (I had never done PowerPoint before, but I got an 80-something on the test. It aint rocket science, people, so dont stress about em.)  And then the recruiter has the hard part of getting me in the door. Its super silly for you to not get them to work for you so you dont have to do that grunt work AND you have someone singing your praises from the get-go. If youre aiming for a bridge job that you think might work with recruiters,  your first step should be to get in front of them first. Send out an All Points Bulletin to your trusted network, and cast as wide a net as possible. Last year, Forbes reported that half of all available jobs arent advertised. Half! Its probably not a surprise to hear that When a job is posted online, hundreds, sometimes thousands, of applications pour in, all from individuals eager to fill the listed position but not necessarily possessing relevant skills or experience. So, HR managers decide to save themselves the torture and go directly to their own networks. This means youll be doing waaaaaay more for yourself spending time  personally emailing your trusted peeps to say what I did in August of 2006, when I was trying to get out of working in sales. This is it in its entirety: Sorry for the big mass email, but I need to cast a wide-net to try to find a job that doesnt suck out my soul every day. I started my 2nd sales job in under a year this May, and I need out ASAP. However, because finding starting new jobs are about as exciting as getting a root canal, I want to be able to find something that I enjoy (imagine that!) treats me as a grown-up ( i.e. provides health insurance, 401K, yada yada yada). Im NOT exclusively looking for sales (in fact, I think Im going to stay away from it unless its with a major corporation that doesnt bore me to tears), so I need some help to see what else I can do and where I can go to find that special, magical place that I wouldnt want to leave. anyone hiring that wants a sassafrass on their team any online job database thats not Career Builders, Media Bistro,Craigs List, or the NY Times a career counselor that helped you or someone you know a recruiter that wont tell me I can go sell copiers for Xerox Thanks for your help, guys! The title of the email was Help me find a job that doesnt suck and I BCCd 36 people including my Moms bestie, my voice teacher, former colleagues and trusted friends.  That email led to 3 requests for my resume, a link to 3 job search sites I didnt know about, information for 7 temp and perm recruiters, a referral to a career counselor, direct numbers for HR people with permission to drop names, and an unasked for reformatting of my resume that made it even more awesome. More productive than applying on idealist like a zombie to black holes, right? Right! Open your mouth. Seriously, did you  read Katies story on this weeks The Recession is Bullhonkey series? Stop and read it now. She didnt have to do any of the above when she just opened her mouth, explained what she could do + what she likes to do + what she wanted to do, and utilized her peeps. This is not magic, people. Listen, I know that finding a new bridge job is a part-time job in and of itself, which is why you gotta be really honest as to your current situation and what you are and arent willing to put up with. However, if you  know your job is contributing to poor physical and/or mental health and is leaving you zonked at the end of the day, then the first thing you should do to make your way towards your dream job is to get out of there. I know its an absolute pain, but take it from someone who make the exact same choice. The first thing I did to become a certified coach was to leave my Account Manager position with the verbally abusive boss and get hired at that financial consultancy company   then I signed up for my coaching school and started classes the same month I started my new job. Eight years later, I can tell you that its the most important thing you can do in making the choice to get ready to change your career, and I know that youre ready.